Subscribe free to "Leading Ideas" at churchleadership.com/leadingideas. Every Wednesday, "Leading Ideas" delivers information, resources, and strategies for forward-thinking church leaders.
These Christmas and Advent articles offer many ideas to help your congregation reach more people and unchurched people, provide opportunities for newcomers, attract children and families, offer inspiring giving for ministries, and much more.
As pastors and congregations prepare to receive guests on Christmas Eve, Bishop Kenneth H. Carter offers simple, heartfelt advice. Keep the sermon brief but grace…
Barry Howard names some dos and don’ts to help make your Christmas Eve service meaningful and welcoming. A festive and effective Christmas Eve service, he…
A live Nativity can be an engaging, heart-warming event not only for church members but for the entire community as well. One Houston-area church has…
Ann Michel and Doug Powe of the Lewis Center write that the pandemic makes connecting with new people this Christmas more important than ever. But…
Looking for creative ways to observe Christmas this year? A group of Minnesota churches assembled this list of ways to celebrate Advent and Christmas safely…
How can Advent be special in a year when so much is different? Professor of Worship Anna Petrin shares ideas for bringing Advent from the sanctuary to the home and allowing its themes of longing and hope to speak to our current reality.
Lewis Center Director Doug Powe says special efforts to welcome visitors at Christmas shouldn’t be set aside once the holiday is over. He outlines four…
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says Christmas visitors can leave feeling shamed or belittled if church insiders project a holier-than-thou attitude. The preparation…
Doug Ruffle, who once served as a missionary in Argentina, shares the heartwarming story of a Christmas pageant that went off script, yet captured the…
Stephanie Remington of the Lewis Center staff reminds us that Christmas traditions can move the spirit and renew the hope of people in our culture,…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.